CES 2020 is buzzing, packed, and very pleased with itself, and the biggest surprise comes from a company that does not make cars. Sony wheels out the Vision-S, a fully built, fully functional electric sedan that nobody saw coming, and insists with a straight face that it is just a rolling demonstration of its sensors and screens. Nobody in the room believes that for a second.
Robots and 5G everywhere
Samsung shows off Ballie, a little rolling robot ball meant to follow you around the house, and an unsettling project called Neon that pitches lifelike artificial humans. 5G is on every banner, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 powers the year’s flagships. The whole floor feels like it is sprinting toward a connected, AI-everything future.
The trend for the year ahead
Sony quietly walks into the car business, and the line between a phone company, a TV company, and a car company keeps blurring. Expect more tech giants eyeing the vehicle as the next big screen they can own.
The Vision-S is the most interesting thing here by a mile. A sensor demo does not need working doors, a real interior, and a drivable chassis. Sony is dipping a toe into something much bigger, and I cannot wait to see how far it goes.
Part of 20 Years of CES Through My Lens, my year-by-year diary of the show.